"A woman can throw out more with a teaspoon than a man can bring home in a wagon."

"Hidden flavors."

"Keeping parlor and kitchen strangers."

"Kosher."

"Recipes tested by Domestic Scientists."_

INTRODUCTION

The word "fat" is one of the most interesting in food chemistry. It is the great energy producer. John C. Olsen, A.M., Ph.D., in his book, "Pure Food," states that fats furnish half the total energy obtained by human beings from their food. The three primary, solid cooking fats today are:

There are numbers of substitutes for these, such as butterine, oleomargarine and "lard compounds."

The following pages contain a story of unusual interest to you. For you eat.

See Page 233

The Story of Crisco

The culinary world is revising its entire cook book on account of the advent of Crisco, a new and altogether different cooking fat.

Many wonder that any product could gain the favor of cooking experts so quickly. A few months after the first package was marketed, practically every grocer of the better class in the United States was supplying women with the new product.

This was largely because four classes of people—housewives—chefs—doctors—dietitians—were glad to be shown a product which at once would make for more digestible foods, more economical foods, and better tasting foods.

Cooking and History

Cooking methods have undergone a marked change during the past few years. The nation's food is becoming more and more wholesome as a result of different discoveries, new sources of supply, and the intelligent weighing of values. Domestic Science is better understood and more appreciated.

People of the present century are fairer to their stomachs, realizing that their health largely depends upon this faithful and long-suffering servant. Digestion and disposition sound much the same, but a good disposition often is wrecked by a poor digestion.

America has been termed a country of dyspeptics. It is being changed to a land of healthy eaters, consequently happier individuals. Every agent responsible for this national digestive improvement must be gratefully recognized.

It seems strange to many that there can be anything better than butter for cooking, or of greater utility than lard, and the advent of Crisco has been a shock to the older generation, born in an age less progressive than our own, and prone to contend that the old fashioned things are good enough.

But these good folk, when convinced, are the greatest enthusiasts. Grandmother was glad to give up the fatiguing spinning wheel. So the modern woman is glad to stop cooking with expensive butter, animal lard and their inadequate substitutes.

And so, the nation's cook book has been hauled out and is being revised. Upon thousands of pages, the words "lard" and "butter" have been crossed out and the word "Crisco" written in their place.

A Need Anticipated

Great foresight was shown in the making of Crisco.

The quality, as well as the quantity, of lard was diminishing steadily in the face of a growing population. Prices were rising. "The high-cost-of-living" was an oft-repeated phrase. Also, our country was outgrowing its supply of butter. What was needed, therefore, was not a substitute, but something better than these fats, some product which not only would accomplish as much in cookery, but a great deal more.

When, therefore, Crisco was perfected, and it was shown that here finally was an altogether new and better fat, cookery experts were quick to show their appreciation.

In reading the following pages, think of Crisco as a primary cooking fat or shortening with even more individuality (because it does greater things), than all others.

Man's Most Important Food, Fat

No other food supplies our bodies with the drive, the vigor, which fat gives. No other food has been given so little study in proportion to its importance.

Here are interesting facts, yet few housewives are acquainted with them:

Fat contains more than twice the amount of energy-yielding power or calorific value of proteids or carbohydrates. One half our physical energy is from the fat we eat in different forms. The excellent book, "Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent," by Fannie Merritt Farmer, states, "In the diet of children at least, a deficiency of fat cannot be replaced by an excess of carbohydrates; and that fat seems to play some part in the formation of young tissues which cannot be undertaken by any other constituent of food...."

The book entitled "The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning," by the two authorities, Ellen H. Richards and S. Maria Elliott, states that the diet of school children should be regulated carefully with the fat supply in view. Girls, especially, show at times a dislike for fat. It therefore is necessary that the fat which supplies their growing bodies with energy should be in the purest and most inviting form and should be one that their digestions welcome, rather than repel.

The first step in the digestion of fat is its melting. Crisco melts at a lower degree of heat than body temperature. Because of its low melting point, thus allowing the digestive juices to mix with it, and because of its vegetable origin and its purity, Crisco is the easiest of all cooking fats to digest.

When a fat smokes in frying, it "breaks down," that is, its chemical composition is changed; part of its altered composition becomes a non-digestible and irritating substance. The best fat for digestion is one which does not decompose or break down at frying temperature. Crisco does not break down until a degree of heat is reached above the frying point. In other words, Crisco does not break down at all in normal frying, because it is not necessary to have it "smoking hot" for frying. No part of it, therefore, has been transformed in cooking into an irritant. That is one reason why the stomach welcomes Crisco and carries forward its digestion with ease.

Working Towards an Ideal

A part of the preliminary work done in connection with the development of Crisco, described in these pages, consisted of the study of the older cooking fats. The objectionable features of each were considered. The good was weighed against the bad. The strength and weakness of each was determined. Thus was found what the ideal fat should possess, and what it should not possess. It must have every good quality and no bad one.

After years of study, a process was discovered which made possible the ideal fat.

The process involved the changing of the composition of vegetable food oils and the making of the richest fat or solid cream.

The Crisco Process at the first stage of its development gave, at least, the basis of the ideal fat; namely, a purely vegetable product, differing from all others in that absolutely no animal fat had to be added to the vegetable oil to produce the proper stiffness. This was but one of the many distinctive advantages sought and found.

Not Marketed Until Perfect

It also solved the problem of eliminating certain objectionable features of fats in general, such as rancidity, color, odor, smoking properties when heated. These weaknesses, therefore, were not a part of this new fat, which it would seem was the parent of the Ideal.

Then after four years of severe tests, after each weakness was replaced with strength the Government was given this fat to analyze and classify. The report was that it answered to none of the tests for fats already existing.

A Primary Fat

It was neither a butter, a "compound" nor a "substitute," but an entirely new product. A primary fat.

In 1911 it was named Crisco and placed upon the market.

Today you buy this rich, wholesome cream of nutritious food oils in sanitary tins. The "Crisco Process" alone can produce this creamy white fat. No one else can manufacture Crisco, because no one else holds the secret of Crisco and because they would have no legal right to make it. Crisco is Crisco, and nothing else.

Finally Economical

At first, it looked very much as if Crisco must be a high-priced product. It cost its discoverers many thousands of dollars before ever a package reached the consumer's kitchen.

Crisco was not offered for sale as a substitute, or for housewives to buy only to save money. The chief point emphasized was, that Crisco was a richer, more wholesome food fat for cooking. Naturally, therefore, it was good news to all when Crisco was found also to be more economical.

Crisco is more economical than lard in another way. It makes richer pastry than lard, and one-fifth less can be used. Furthermore it can be used over and over again in frying all manner of foods, and because foods absorb so little, Crisco is in reality more economical even than lard of mediocre quality. The price of Crisco is lower than the average price of the best pail lard throughout the year.

Crisco's Manufacture

It would be difficult to imagine surroundings more appetizing than those in which Crisco is manufactured. It is made in a building devoted exclusively to the manufacture of this one product. In sparkling bright rooms, cleanly uniformed employees make and pack Crisco.

The air for this building is drawn in through an apparatus which washes and purifies it, removing the possibility of any dust entering.

The floors are of a special tile composition; the walls are of white glazed tile, which are washed regularly. White enamel covers metal surfaces where nickel plating cannot be used. Sterilized machines handle the oil and the finished product. No hand touches Crisco until in your own kitchen the sanitary can is opened, disclosing the smooth richness, the creamlike, appetizing consistency of the product.

The Banishment of That "Lardy" Taste in Foods

It was the earnest aim of the makers of Crisco to produce a strictly vegetable product without adding a hard, and consequently indigestible animal fat. There is today a pronounced partiality from a health standpoint to a vegetable fat, and the lardy, greasy taste of food resulting from the use of animal fat never has been in such disfavor as during the past few years.

So Crisco is absolutely all vegetable. No stearine, animal or vegetable, is added. It possesses no taste nor odor save the delightful and characteristic aroma which identifies Crisco, and is suggestive of its purity.

Explanation of "Hidden" Food Flavors.

When the dainty shadings of taste are over-shadowed by a "lardy" flavor, the true taste of the food itself is lost. We miss the "hidden" or natural taste of the food. Crisco has a peculiar power of bringing out the very best in food flavors. Even the simplest foods are allowed a delicacy of flavor.

Take ginger bread for example: The real ginger taste is there. The molasses and spice flavors are brought out.

Or just plain, every-day fried potatoes; many never knew what the real potato taste was before eating potatoes fried in Crisco.

Fried chicken has a newness of taste not known before.

New users of Crisco should try these simple foods first and later take up the preparation of more elaborate dishes.

Butter, Ever Popular

It is hard to imagine anything taking the place of butter upon the dining table. For seasoning in cooking, the use of butter ever will be largely a matter of taste. Some people have a partiality for the "butter flavor," which after all is largely the salt mixed with the fat. Close your eyes and eat some fresh unsalted butter; note that it is practically tasteless.

Crisco contains richer food elements than butter. As Crisco is richer, containing no moisture, one-fifth or one-fourth less can be used in each recipe.

Crisco always is uniform because it is a manufactured fat where quality and purity can be controlled. It works perfectly into any dough, making the crust or loaf even textured. It keeps sweet and pure indefinitely in the ordinary room temperature.

Keep Your Parlor and Your Kitchen Strangers

Kitchen odors are out of place in the parlor. When frying with Crisco, as before explained, it is not necessary to heat the fat to smoking temperature, ideal frying is accomplished without bringing Crisco to its smoking point. On the other hand, it is necessary to heat lard "smoking hot" before it is of the proper frying temperature. Remember also that, when lard smokes and fills the house with its strong odor, certain constituents have been changed chemically to those which irritate the sensitive membranes of the alimentary canal.

Crisco does not smoke until it reaches 455 degrees, a heat higher than is necessary for frying. You need not wait for Crisco to smoke. Consequently the house will not fill with smoke, nor will there be black, burnt specks in fried foods, as often there are when you use lard for frying.

Crisco gives up its heat very quickly to the food submerged in it and a tender, brown crust almost instantly forms, allowing the inside of the potatoes, croquettes, doughnuts, etc., to become baked, rather than soaked.

The same Crisco can be used for frying fish, onions, potatoes, or any other food. Crisco does not take up food flavors or odors. After frying each food, merely strain out the food particles.

We All Eat Raw Fats

The shortening fat in pastry or baked foods, is merely distributed throughout the dough. No chemical change occurs during the baking process. So when you eat pie or hot biscuit, in which animal lard is used, you eat raw animal lard. The shortening used in all baked foods therefore, should be just as pure and wholesome as if you were eating it like butter upon bread. Because Crisco digests with such ease, and because it is a pure vegetable fat, all those who realize the above fact regarding pastry making are now won over to Crisco.

A hint as to Crisco's purity is shown by this simple test: Break open a hot biscuit in which Crisco has been used. You will note a sweet fragrance, which is most inviting.

A few months ago if you had told dyspeptic men and women that they could eat pie at the evening meal and that distress would not follow, probably they would have doubted you. Hundreds of instances of Crisco's healthfulness have been given by people, who, at one time have been denied such foods as pastry, cake and fried foods, but who now eat these rich, yet digestible Crisco dishes.

You, or any other normally healthy individual, whose digestion does not relish greasy foods, can eat rich pie crust. The richness is there, but not the unpleasant after effects. Crisco digests readily.

The Importance of Giving Children Crisco Foods

A good digestion will mean much to the youngster's health and character. A man seldom seems to be stronger than his stomach, for indigestion handicaps him in his accomplishment of big things.

As more attention is given to present feeding, less attention need be given to future doctoring. Equip your children with good stomachs by giving them wholesome Crisco foods—foods which digest with ease.

They may eat the rich things they enjoy and find them just as digestible as many apparently simple foods, if Crisco be used properly.

They may eat Crisco doughnuts or pie without being chased by nightmares. Sweet dreams follow the Crisco supper.

The Great Variety of Crisco Foods

There are thousands of Crisco dishes. It is impossible to know the exact number, because Crisco is used for practically every cooking purpose. Women daily tell us of new uses they have found for Crisco.

Many women begin by using Crisco in simple ways, for frying, for baking, in place of lard. Soon, however, they learn that Crisco also takes the place of butter. "Butter richness without butter expense," say the thousands of Crisco users.

Tasty scalloped dishes, salad dressing, rich pastry, fine grained cake, sauces and hundreds of other dishes, where butter formerly was used, now are prepared with Crisco.

"A Woman Can Throw Out More with a Teaspoon Than a Man Can Bring Home in a Wagon"

Kitchen expense comes by the spoonful. Think of the countless spoonfuls of expensive butter used daily, where economical Crisco would accomplish the same results at one-third the cost.

It should be remembered that one-fifth less Crisco than butter may be used, because Crisco is richer than butter. The moisture, salt and curd which butter contains to the extent of about 20 per cent are not found in Crisco, which is all, (100 per cent) shortening.

Remember also that Crisco will average a lower price per pound throughout the year than the best pail lard. And you can use less Crisco than lard, which is a further saving.

Brief, Interesting Facts

Crisco is being used in an increasing number of the better class hotels, clubs, restaurants, dining cars, ocean liners.

Crisco has been demonstrated and explained upon the Chautauqua platform by Domestic Science experts, these lectures being a part of the regular course.

Domestic Science teachers recommend Crisco to their pupils and use it in their classes and lecture demonstrations. Many High Schools having Domestic Science departments use Crisco.

Crisco has taken the place of butter and lard in a number of hospitals, where purity and digestibility are of vital importance.

Crisco is Kosher. Rabbi Margolies of New York, said that the Hebrew Race had been waiting 4,000 years for Crisco. It conforms to the strict Dietary Laws of the Jews. It is what is known in the Hebrew language as a "parava," or neutral fat. Crisco can be used with both "milchig" and "fleichig" (milk and flesh) foods. Special Kosher packages, bearing the seals of Rabbi Margolies of New York, and Rabbi Lifsitz of Cincinnati, are sold the Jewish trade. But all Crisco is Kosher and all of the same purity.

Campers find Crisco helpful in many ways. Hot climates have little effect upon its wholesomeness.

It is convenient; a handy package to pack and does not melt so quickly in transit. One can of Crisco can be used to fry fish, eggs, potatoes and to make hot biscuit, merely by straining out the food particles after each frying and pouring the Crisco back into the can to harden to proper consistency before the biscuit making.

Practically every grocer who has a good trade in Crisco, uses it in his own home.

Crisco is sold by net weight. You pay only for the Crisco—not the can. Find the net weight of what you have been using.

Bread and cake keep fresh and moist much longer when Crisco is used.

Women have written that they use empty Crisco tins for canning vegetables and fruits, and as receptacles for kitchen and pantry use.

Crisco's Manufacture Scientifically Explained

To understand something of the Crisco Process, it is necessary first to know that there are three main constituents in all the best edible oils.

Linoline, Oleine, Stearine.

The chemical difference between these three components is solely in the percentage of hydrogen contained, and it is possible by the addition of hydrogen, to transform one component into another.

Though seemingly so much alike, there is a marked difference in the physical properties of these components.

Linoline which has the lowest percentage of hydrogen, is unstable and tends to turn rancid.

Oleine is stable, has no tendency to turn rancid and is easily digested.

Stearine is both hard and indigestible.

The Crisco process adds enough hydrogen to change almost all the linoline into nourishing digestible oleine.

Mark well the difference in manufacture between Crisco and lard compounds. In producing a lard compound, to the linoline, oleine and stearine of the original oil is added more stearine (usually animal), the hard indigestible fat, in order to bring up the hardness of the oil. The resultant compound is indigestible and very liable to become rancid.

* * * * *

The following pages contain 615 recipes which have been tested by Domestic Science Authorities in the Cooking Departments of different colleges and other educational institutions, and by housewives in their own kitchens. Many have been originated by Marion Harris Neil and all have been tested by her.

We have undertaken to submit a comprehensive list of recipes for your use, which will enable you to serve menus of wide variety.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this little volume and that you will derive both help and satisfaction from the recipes.

We will go to any length to help you in the cause of Better Food. We realize that women must study this product as they would any other altogether new article of cookery, and that the study and care used will be amply repaid by the palatability and healthfulness of all foods. A can of Crisco is no Aladdin's Lamp, which merely need be touched by a kitchen spoon to produce magical dishes. But any woman is able to achieve excellent results by mixing thought with Crisco.

Let us know how you progress.

Yours respectfully,

Things to Remember in Connection with These Recipes

No need for Crisco to occupy valuable space in the refrigerator. In fact, except in most unusual summer heat, it will be of a better consistency outside the refrigerator. Crisco keeps sweet indefinitely, summer and winter, at ordinary room temperature.

In making sauces, thoroughly blend the flour and Crisco before adding the milk.

In using melted Crisco in boiled dressing, croquettes, rolls, fritters, etc., be sure that the melted Crisco is cooled sufficiently so that the hot fat will not injure the texture of the foods.

When using in place of butter, add salt in the proportion of one level teaspoonful to one cup of Crisco.

Remember that Crisco, like butter, is susceptible to cold. It readily becomes hard. In creaming Crisco in winter use the same care as when creaming butter. Rinse pan in boiling water and have the Crisco of the proper creaming stiffness before using. Unlike butter, however, Crisco's purity is not affected by weather. It remains sweet and pure indefinitely without refrigeration.

In deep frying, do not wait for Crisco to smoke. (See page 35.)

Remember That—

When pie crust is tough: It is possible you have not used Crisco properly. Perhaps the measurements were not correct. Perhaps the water was too warm, or the dough was handled too much. Shortening cannot make pastry tough.

When fried foods absorb: It is because Crisco is not hot enough, or because you have not used enough Crisco. Use plenty and the raw foods, if added in small quantities, will not reduce the heat of the fat. The absorption in deep Crisco frying should be less than that of another fat.

When cake is not a success: It is not the fault of the Crisco. Either too much was used, the oven heat not perfectly controlled or some important ingredient was used in the wrong proportion. Crisco should be creamed with the sugar more thoroughly than butter, as Crisco contains no moisture to dissolve the sugar.

When cake or other food is not flavory: Salt should have been added to the Crisco, for Crisco contains no salt.

When there is smoke in the kitchen: Crisco has been burned or heated too high for frying. Or some may have been on the outside of the pan or kettle.

When Crisco is too hard: Like butter, it is susceptible to heat and cold. Simply put in a warmer place.

Hints to Young Cooks

Also, How to Choose Foods, Methods of Cooking, Cooking Time Table, The Art of Carving, by MARION HARRIS NEIL.

Before commencing to cook, look up the required recipe, read and think it out. Note down on a slip of paper the materials and quantities required. Collect all utensils and materials required before commencing. Success in cookery depends on careful attention to every detail from start to finish. Quantities, both liquid and dry, should be exact. Small scales and weights should form part of the kitchen equipment where possible, and the measuring cups cost so little that no one need be without them.

Throughout this book the measurements are level

How to Choose Foods

Money can be spent to infinitely better advantage in the store, than by giving orders at the door, by phone or mail. Every housekeeper knows how large a proportion of the housekeeping money is swallowed up by the butcher's bill, so that with the meat item careful selection is most necessary in order to keep the bills within bounds.

In choosing meat of any kind the eye, the nose and the touch really are required, although it is not appetizing to see the purchaser use more than the eye.

Beef

In choosing meat it should be remembered that without being actually unwholesome, it varies greatly in quality, and often an inferior joint is to be preferred from a first class beast to a more popular cut from a second class animal. To be perfect the animal should be five or six years old, the flesh of a close even grain, bright red in color and well mixed with creamy white fat, the suet being firm and a clear white. Heifer meat is smaller in the bone and lighter in color than ox beef. Cow beef is much the same to look at as ox beef, though being older it is both coarser in the grain and tougher; bull beef, which is never seen however, in a first class butcher's may be recognized by the coarseness and dark color of the flesh, and also by a strong and almost rank smell.

Mutton

To be in perfection, mutton should be at least four, or better five or six years old, but sheep of this age are rarely if ever, met with now-a-days, when they are constantly killed under two years. To know the age of mutton, examine the breast bones; if these are all of a white gristly color the animal was four years old or over, while the younger it is the pinkier are the bones, which, in a sheep of under a year, are entirely red.

Good mutton should be of a clear dark red, the fat firm and white, and not too much of it; when touched the meat should feel crisp yet tender. If the fat is yellow and the lean flabby and damp, it is bad. A freshly scraped wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone will speedily enable anyone to detect staleness. For roasting mutton scarcely can be hung too long, as long as it is not tainted; but for boiling it must not be kept nearly so long or the meat will be of a bad color when cooked.

Lamb

The freshness of lamb is comparatively easy to distinguish, as if fresh the neck vein will be a bright blue, the knuckles stiff, and the eyes bright and full.

Veal

Veal is at its best when the calf is from three to four months old. The meat should be of a close firm grain, white in color and the fat inclining to a pinkish tinge. Veal is sometimes coarser in the grain, and redder in the flesh, not necessarily a mark of inferiority, but denoting the fact that calf has been brought up in the open. Like all young meat, veal turns very quickly, therefore it never should hang more than two or three days. In choosing veal always examine the suet under the kidney; if this be clammy and soft, with a faint odor, the meat is not good, and always reject any that has greenish or yellowish spots about it. The head should be clean skinned and firm, the eyes full and clear, the kidneys large and well covered with fat, the liver a rich dark clear color, free from any spots or gristle, while the sweetbreads should be firm, plump, of a delicate color, and free from strings.

Pork

The flesh of pork, when in good condition, is a delicate pinky white, with a close fine grain; the fat, which should not be too abundant, of a white color, very faintly tinged with pink; the skin should be thin and elastic to the touch, and the flesh generally cool, clean, and smooth looking; if, on the contrary, the flesh is flabby and clammy when touched, it is not fresh.

Pork, like all white meat, is quick to taint, and never should be kept long before cooking. If you have the slightest doubt about pork, it is best to reject it, for unlike other meat which may be quite wholesome and usable, though not of precisely prime quality, pork must be in really first class condition to be wholesome, and therefore it is impossible to be too particular in the choice of it. Always if possible look at the tongue, for, as in beef, this is a very fair criterion of the condition of the animal; a freshly scraped new wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone is a good test of the freshness of the pork, and be careful especially to examine the fat, for if there be little kernels in it the pork is "measly," a very common disease among pigs, and one particularly unwholesome to the consumer.

Pigs for fresh pork should be of medium size, not over fat, and under a year old. Pigs destined to become bacon are usually older and larger. Sucking pigs should be small, and are best when about three weeks old. A sucking pig should be cooked as soon as possible after it is killed, as it taints very quickly; unless fresh, no care in the cooking will make the crackling crisp, as it should be.

Ham—Bacon

Good bacon has the lean of a bright pink and fine in the grain, while the fat is white and firm. If the lean is high colored, it probably has been over salted and is old besides, and in consequence will be hard and salty; while if there be yellow marks in the fat, and a curious, rather musty smell, it will have an unpleasant taste. In choosing a ham always run a clean knife or skewer in at the knuckle, and also at the center; if it comes out clean and smelling sweet, the ham is good; but if out of order the blade of the knife will be smeared and greasy looking, and have a disagreeable, strong odor.

Venison

The condition of venison is judged chiefly by the fat, which should be a clear creamy white color, and close in texture. Always try venison by running a sharp knife along the haunch bone, which is usually the first to turn; if, in taking it out, the knife has a blackish-green look and an unpleasant odor, the meat is tainted, and unfit for use. Venison requires to be kept a considerable time before it is in proper condition, and needs great care in its management. It must be examined carefully every day, and if there is the slightest doubt, it should be washed in lukewarm milk and water, then dried in clean cloths, and when perfectly dry, should be covered thickly all over with ground ginger and pepper; when required for use, dust off the pepper and ginger, and wash the meat in a little lukewarm water, and dry it thoroughly. Venison, like mutton, improves with age, and this can be judged by the condition of the hoof, which in a young animal has a small, smooth cleft, while in an old one it is deeply cut and rugged. The haunch is the prime joint, its perfection depending on the greater or less depth of the fat on it. The neck and shoulder also are very good. They are used chiefly for stews or pies.

Hares and Rabbits

A hare when fresh killed is stiff and red; when stale, the body is supple and the flesh in many parts black. If the hare be old the ears will be tough and dry, and will not tear readily. Rabbits may be judged in the same manner. In both, the claws should be smooth and sharp. In a young hare the cleft in the lip is narrow, and the claws are cracked readily if turned sideways.

Poultry

Poultry to be perfect, should have just reached their full growth (the only exceptions to this are "spring chickens," ducklings, goslings, etc., which are considered delicacies at certain seasons); they should be plump, firm fleshed, and not over fatted. Over-fed fowls are often a mass of greasy fat, which melts in the cooking and spoils the flavor of the bird. A hen is at her best just before she begins to lay; her legs should be smooth, her comb small, bright, and soft. A young cock has the comb full, bright colored, and smooth, the legs smooth, the spurs short, and in both the toes should break easily when turned back, and the weight of the birds should be great in proportion to their size. Contrary to the practice with game, poultry never should be kept long, as they turn easily, and are spoilt if the least high. They also require longer cooking, in proportion to their size, than game, and never should be underdone. Dark-legged fowls are best for roasting, as their flesh is moister and better flavored cooked in this way than the white-legged ones, which from their greater daintiness of appearance are to be preferred for boiling.

Turkeys should be plump, white-fleshed, young, the legs plump and firm, black and smooth, with (in the cock) short spurs, the feet soft and supple; the eyes should be full and clear, the neck long, and the wattles of a bright color. A hen turkey is best for boiling. Like fowls, an old turkey is fit for nothing but the stewpan or the stockpot. Turkeys require hanging for at least a week, though they must never be "high" or "gamey."

Geese always should be chosen young, plump, and full breasted, a white skin, a yellow smooth bill, the feet yellow and pliable. If the feet and bill are red and hard, and the skin hairy and coarse, the bird is old. Geese should be hung for a few days. Ducks, like geese, should have yellow, supple feet; the breasts full and hard, and the skin clear. Wild ducks should be fat, the feet small, reddish, and pliable, the breast firm and heavy. If not fresh, there will be a disagreeable smell when the bill is open. The male is generally the more expensive, though the female is usually more delicate in flavor.

Pigeons always should be young and extremely fresh, and when so, they are plump and fat, with pliable smooth feet.

NOTE—In selecting game pluck a few feathers from the under part of the leg; if the skin is not discolored the bird is fresh. The age may be known by placing the thumb into the beak, and holding the bird up with the jaw apart; if it breaks it is young; if not, it is old, and requires longer keeping before cooking to be eatable.

Guinea-fowl are judged like poultry, but require hanging for some time.

Fish

Fish in good condition usually is firm and elastic to the touch, eyes bright and prominent, gills fresh and rosy. If the fish is flabby, with sunken eyes, it either is stale or out of condition.

Salmon should have a small head and tail, full thick shoulders, clean silvery scales, and its flesh of a rich yellowish pink. When quite fresh there is a creamy curd between the flakes, which are stiff and hard; but if kept this melts, softening the flesh and rendering it richer, but at the same time less digestible.

Trout, in spite of the difference in size, may be judged by the same rule as salmon. However, it will not bear keeping, deteriorating rapidly.

Cod, unlike salmon, should have a large head and thick shoulders; the flesh being white and clear, and separating easily into large flakes, the skin clean and silvery. Most people consider cod improves by being kept for a day or two and very slightly salted.

Herrings must be absolutely fresh to be good, and when in this state their scales shine like silver. If kept over long their eyes become suffused with blood.

Mackerel also must be quite fresh. They never should be bought if either out of condition or season. If fresh they are peculiarly beautiful fish, their backs of an iridescent blue green barred with black, and their bellies of a pearly whiteness.

Smelts should be stiff and silvery, with a delicate perfume faintly suggestive of cucumber.

Halibut is a wholesome fish. It should be middling size, thick and of a white color.

Lobsters, Crabs, Prawns, and Shrimps are stiff, and with the tails tightly pressed against the body. With the former, weight is a great guide, as the heavier they are the better; but if there be the least sign of wateriness, they should be rejected at once.

Vegetables

Green vegetables always are at their best when cheapest and most plentiful. Out of season they never have the same flavor, however well they may be grown. Excepting artichokes, all summer vegetables, as lettuce, peas, beans, and asparagus should be cooked as soon as possible after gathering. The freshness of most vegetables may be ascertained easily by taking a leaf or a pod between the fingers. If fresh this will snap off short and crisp, while if stale it will be limp and soft. It is an economy to buy winter vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, celery, and potatoes in large quantities, if you have storage room, as if buried in sand and kept from the frost they may be kept a considerable time. Onions should be kept hung up in a cool, dry place. If allowed to sprout the flavor becomes rank and coarse.

Eggs

A mode of ascertaining the freshness of eggs is to hold them before a lighted candle or to the light, and if the egg looks clear, it will be tolerably good; if thick, it is stale; and if there is a black spot attached to the shell, it is worthless. No egg should be used for culinary purposes with the slightest taint in it, as it will render perfectly useless those with which it has been mixed. Eggs may be preserved, however, for a considerable time without any further special precaution than that of keeping them in a cool place. A very effective method of preserving eggs for winter use is to rub a little melted Crisco over each to close the pores, and then to pack the eggs in bran, salt or sawdust, not allowing them to touch each other.

The first three are most suitable for joints weighing four pounds or more, but not satisfactory for smaller pieces which are liable to become hard and flavorless by the drying up or loss of their juices.

Of the other three methods, stewing may be applied to fairly large and solid pieces, but it is better for smaller thin ones, while frying and broiling can be used only for steaks, chops, and similar cuts.

Braising and steaming are combinations and modifications of these methods.

Roasting

Roasting is one of the oldest methods of cooking on record, and still remains the favorite form of cooking joints of meat or birds. The success of every method of cooking depends largely upon the correct management of the fire. In roasting, this is particularly the case, as a clear, brisk and yet steady fire is needed. To roast a joint it should be placed before great heat for the first ten minutes and then allowed to cook more slowly. The great heat hardens the outside of the meat and keeps in the juices. If allowed to cook quickly all the time the meat is likely to be tough. The fire should be bright and clear. The joint should be basted about every ten minutes, as this helps to cook it, keeps it juicy and improves the flavor. The time allowed is fifteen minutes for every pound, twenty minutes over for beef and mutton; for veal and pork twenty minutes for every pound and thirty minutes over.

Oven Roasting

Roasting in the oven of ordinary coal stoves or ranges is not considered so good as roasting before an open fire; nevertheless it may be said safely that the greatest part of meat roasting is done in close ovens. It appears, from various experiments that meat roasted or baked in a close oven loses rather less of its weight than if roasted by an open fire.

The excellence of a roast depends to a great extent upon the amount of basting it receives.

Some cooks season a joint before it is cooked, while others season it with salt and pepper just before it is served. There is a difference of opinion as to which is the more correct way of the two. Meat of newly killed animals requires longer cooking than meat which has been hung for a time.

In warm weather joints require slightly less time for roasting than in cold.

Boned and rolled or stuffed meats require longer cooking than the same joints would if neither rolled nor stuffed. The meat of young animals and that of old ones requires different treatment. As a rule young flesh, containing less fibrine, requires longer cooking. White meat, such as pork, veal and lamb, always should be well cooked and never must be served rare. The exact time and process of roasting must be left to the good management of the cook, who must be guided by circumstances and conditions. The cook's business is to serve the joint as full of nourishing qualities as possible. Though roasting is considered one of the easiest and most simple processes of cookery, it really requires quite as much attention to obtain perfect results as is necessary to prepare so-called "made" dishes, the recognized test for good cooks.

Boiling

Boiling (of fresh meat).—This is cookery by immersion in boiling liquid, which after a few minutes is reduced to simmering. The object of the high temperature at first is to harden the surface albumen and so seal the pores and prevent the escape of the juices. If continued too long, this degree of heat would tend to toughen the joint throughout; after the first few minutes, therefore, the heat must be reduced to about 180 deg. F. The pan used for boiling meat should be only just large enough to hold the joint, and the quantity of liquid no more than is required to cover it. For the boiling of salt meat the general rule of first hardening the surface is not to be followed. The salting of meat withdraws a large proportion of its juices, while at the same time the salt hardens the fibres, and this hardness would be intensified by extreme heat. Very salt meat sometimes is soaked in cold water to extract some of the salt, but whether this is done or not, the rule for boiling salt meat is to immerse it in cold or tepid water and bring slowly to boiling point; boil for five minutes to seal the pores and prevent any further loss of juice, then reduce to 180 deg. F., and maintain a uniform temperature till the meat is cooked. Salt meat takes longer to cook than fresh meat, and the saltness may be qualified by boiling vegetables with the meat, turnips especially being useful for this purpose.

Baking

The actual differences between roasting and baking are not great, the terms being frequently interchanged. Meat loses rather less weight when baked than when roasted, but the flavor of meat is inferior and less developed. The heat of an oven being steadier, baking takes somewhat less time than roasting. In a gas oven having an open floor the current of air is not impeded, and such baking very nearly approaches roasting, and the flavor generally is acknowledged to be the same.

Stewing

Stewing is cooking slowly with a small quantity of liquid in a covered vessel. The method is specially suitable for the coarser and cheaper parts of meat, which are rendered tender without loss of their juices. The usual plan is to make a gravy flavored and colored to suit the stew, and after the ingredients are well blended and cooked to lay the meat in the boiling liquid. After about two minutes boiling, the temperature is reduced to simmering, about 160 deg. F., a lower temperature than that required for a large joint of "boiled" meat. The time depends greatly on the quality of the meat, but none will stew satisfactorily in less than from one and a half to two hours, and the longer allowance is to be preferred.

Broiling

Broiling, sometimes called grilling, is cooking by the direct action of fire brought almost into contact with the meat. The outer surface is burned or seared, the albumen hardened and the juices, which have a tendency to escape on the side turned from the heat, are retained in the meat by frequent turning. The fire for broiling must be very clear, intensely hot and high in the grate. The utensil required for broiling is a gridiron, the bars of which are greased and heated to prevent sticking and subsequent tearing of the meat. The gridiron is laid quite close over the heat, so that the lower surface is dried and hardened at once.

The meat must be turned at very short intervals before the juices have been driven from the heat to the opposite surface. If once allowed to reach the surface, they will be thrown off in turning and lost, the meat being correspondingly impoverished. By constant turning the juices are kept moving backwards and forwards, and the meat remains moist and full of flavor. Each side should be exposed to the fire about three times, and it is not desirable to use meat less than one inch or more than one and a half to two inches thick for the purpose.

The thinner pieces should have even greater heat applied than the thick ones, as the longer thin ones are exposed to the fire the more dry and tasteless they become, while the thicker pieces may be slightly withdrawn after thoroughly hardening the surface and cooked rather more slowly that the heat may penetrate to the center. The frequent turning must be continued, or the juices will reach the hardened outer fibres, soften them, and escape.

If a double broiler is used the turning is managed easily, but with a single gridiron care must be taken not to puncture the meat by using a fork. Steak tongs are made for the purpose of lifting and turning broiled meat, but a spoon or a spoon and knife will answer. A single rim of fat on the chop or steak will tend to keep the edge moist and baste the meat, but too much will cause flame to rise in continuous jet, making the surface smoky. If there is absolutely no fat on the piece to be broiled, morsels of finely chopped suet may be occasionally thrown into the fire, so the sudden spurt of flame from this source leaves a deposit of fat on the meat which improves the flavor, and, without softening the albumen, prevents its becoming uneatably hard and dry.

Frying

Frying may be looked on as a derivative of broiling, and passes by easy stages, from broiling on a slightly greased metal plate, or sauteing in a shallow pan in a small quantity of Crisco, to cooking by actual immersion into a bath of hot fat. In a house where small and delicately made dishes are in demand, and where variety in the re-dressing of cold meats has to be studied, this frying in deep fat is one of the cook's most needed accomplishments. Though exceedingly easy to do well, it is also exceedingly easy to do badly.

Deep fat frying, which means submerging the food in the fat, is far superior to shallow or saute frying, and can be done most economically with Crisco. Little is absorbed by the foods, and the Crisco does not take up the odor or flavor of the food which is fried in it. This characteristic makes it possible to use Crisco for frying one article of food after another.

Use plenty of Crisco for frying. The temperature of the hot Crisco then will be but little lowered when the food is added. There is little absorption and what is left may be used for all frying, merely by straining out food particles after each frying.

Sufficient Crisco should be put into the pan to fill it about two-thirds full. From two to three pounds for a pan eight inches in diameter will not be too much. Into this pan or kettle a wire "frying-basket" should fit quite loosely, the basket measuring quite an inch less across the top than the pan.

Let Crisco get hot gradually in the pan. Do not put into an already hot container. No fat should be treated in this manner.

Do Not Wait for Crisco to Smoke

Heat Crisco until a crumb of bread becomes a golden brown in

60 seconds for raw dough mixtures, as crullers, fritters, etc.

40 seconds for cooked mixtures, as croquettes, codfish balls, etc.

20 seconds for French fried potatoes.

Seconds may be counted thus: one hundred and one, one hundred and two, etc.

The fat may be tested also by dropping into it a little piece of the article to be cooked. When it rises to the top, bubbles vigorously and browns quickly, the fat is hot enough.

When prepared, the foods must be placed in the basket, not too many at a time or too close together, and then lowered gently into the fat. They generally will sink to the bottom for a minute or two, and only float when they have begun to brown. When a bright golden brown, take up the basket and let the fried things drain in it, over the hot fat, for a few seconds. Then take them out gently one by one, and lay them on a sheet of brown or kitchen paper.

The draining over the pan is one of the principal things to attend to; if this be neglected, the fat will cling about the fried things, making them both look and taste greasy, whereas if properly drained in the basket to begin with, they will afterwards scarcely mark the paper. When, as is sometimes the case, no frying basket is used, each thing fried should be drained between a spoon and the edge of the pan.

To Clarify

It is economy to use three pounds in the kettle, clarifying the fat when it is put away. To clarify Crisco, take that which has been used for deep frying and when it has cooled, but not solidified, strain through a double thickness of cheese cloth, replace kettle on stove, drop several slices of potato into the Crisco and reheat. When the potatoes are golden brown, take out and pour the Crisco back into the tin. With this little care, fish, oysters, onions, chops, fritters, doughnuts, etc., may be fried over and over again in the same Crisco.

The dry or saute method of frying is less satisfactory, in that it is difficult even after much practice to produce a uniformly colored surface. A small quantity of fat only is needed, and where the fat, i.e., the heat, ends, a crack is formed in the outer coat, through which flavor escapes and fat enters; the appearance also is rendered unsightly. Flat fish can be fried fairly well by this method, or, indeed, almost any thin substance, as thin edges are not affected in this way. For pancakes and other articles of similar nature it is the best method. It rarely is possible to use the fat from the dry method a second time, except for dishes of the same kind, as the fat always is more or less flavored by the food cooked in it. The most digestible fat for frying and the best for results undoubtedly is Crisco.

Steaming

Steaming is a process very similar to boiling, for it is cooking in the heated vapor of water. This practice as a means of cookery is largely adopted in hotels, clubs, schools and hospitals, and other large institutions; also frequently applied in ordinary home cookery for particular articles of food requiring a very slow process of cooking. An ordinary kitchen steamer, with a close-fitting lid is generally all that is required for simple household cookery on a small scale. The articles of food which are to be steamed are prepared in exactly the same manner as for boiling. Many puddings, some meats, and some vegetables are considered better if cooked by steam, and inasmuch as the process of cooking is a very slow one, there is no fear of the food being destroyed by too fierce a heat, as the temperature in steaming never reaches beyond 212 deg. F. Fish, meat and poultry cooked by steam are as a rule tender, full of gravy and digestible. By steaming, watery vegetables are made drier; tough meats are softened and made tender; while farinaceous mixtures and puddings develop a totally different flavor when baked or fried.

Braising

Braising is a combination of roasting and stewing small joints of meat in a shallow stewpan. It is a favorite method of cooking with the French, and is supposed to bring out an unusually fine flavor and aroma. The pan in which a braise is to be made always should be lined with slices of bacon, carrot, onions and herbs, upon which the meat is placed. It usually is moistened with stock or stock and wine. The more delicate meats, such as sweetbreads, fillets, fowls and turkeys sometimes are covered with buttered paper; this is done to prevent the heat from the top of the pan scorching or imparting too much of a roast flavor to the meats which are to be braised. Occasional basting during the process of this method of cooking is essential. When done, the meat is taken up, the fat removed from the vegetables and gravy, which latter is then reduced, strained and blended with some kind of gravy or thin sauce.

Poaching and Marinating

Poaching is the name usually given to the process of cooking an article by placing it for a few minutes in boiling water. Marinating or pickling is a process with a formidable name with a simple meaning. To marinate simply is to soak meat in a mixture for some hours, or even days, with the idea of improving its flavor of softening its fibres and making it tender. Vinegar, oil, pepper and salt are mixed together and the meat packed in the mixture; sometimes a sliced onion and herbs are added. The meat, of course, should be wiped first, but not washed.

Cooking in Earthenware

Stone or earthenware cooking appliances are used to very great advantage for various forms of preparing food. For the homely pot-au-feu the French housewife has used fireproof earthenware dishes for generations, and does so today. But besides soups, various savory dishes, and all sorts of stews are cooked in stoneware pots. Indeed, so much has this form of cookery come into fashion that many dishes are sent to table in the pots in which they are cooked. Cooking in stoneware has no equal where slow cooking is aimed at, and there are many dishes which one would do well to refrain from attempting unless cooked in this fashion. These cooking pots are inexpensive, and certain foods taste decidedly better if cooked in this way. For braising, pot roasting, or stewing fruit and other articles which need to be cooked slowly under close cover, the application of a moderate, even heat produces far better results than if quick heat is applied. For such cases the use of earthenware cooking pots is recommended.

All materials are measured level, i.e., by filling spoon or cup more than full and leveling with a case knife.

To measure meal, flour, sugar and similar ingredients, sift lightly into the measure, then level.

Standard measuring cups made of tin, aluminum or glass holding half a pint always should be used. Coffee and teacups vary so much that correct proportions can not be obtained by using them.

To measure a spoonful of dry material, fill the spoon heaping, then level. To measure a half-spoonful, fill and level the spoon, then divide in half lengthways; for quarter-spoonfuls, divide the halves crossways.

Use level measurements in all recipes in this book.

The Art of Carving

Carving is an art, and one which anybody, with a knowledge of a few general directions, can acquire easily.

A proper set of carving tools is almost indispensable, and should comprise: a good thin, sharp-bladed knife, a solid two or three pronged fork, and a pair of carving scissors. Anything that needs to be carved at table should be placed on a dish sufficiently large to allow the joint to be turned without moving the dish from its position. The dish should be placed close in front of the carver. Such joints as beef, veal and ham should be cut very thin; while lamb, mutton, and pork should be cut a trifle thicker.

To carve a fowl, begin by sticking the fork into the pinion and draw it towards the leg; and then, passing the knife underneath, take off the wing at the joint. Next slip the knife between leg and body, to cut through the joint; and with the fork turn leg back, and joint will give way. Then take off other wing and leg. After legs are taken off, enter knife into the top of breast, and cut under merrythought or wishbone so as to loosen it, lifting it with the fork. Afterwards cut slices from both sides of breast. Next, take off collarbones, which lie on each side of wishbone and then separate side bones from the back. The breast and wings are considered the most delicate parts; the back as the least desirable, generally is left on platter.

A turkey is carved in same manner, except that the legs and wings, being larger, are separated at lower joint. Lower part of leg (or drumstick) being hard, tough, and stringy, usually is allowed to remain on platter. First cut off wing, leg, and breast from one side; then turn turkey round and cut them off from the other.

To carve a goose, separate leg from body by putting fork into small end of leg, pressing it close to body, and then passing knife under, and turning leg back as you cut through joint. To take off wing, put fork into the small end of wing, and press it closely to body, then slip knife under and separate the joint. Next, cut under wishbone and take it off, and cut slices from breast. Then turn and dismember the other side. Take off upper side bones next to wings, then two lower side bones. The breast and legs of a goose are considered the most choice. If a goose is old, there is no fowl so tough.

Quails merely are split down the back, as also are pigeons, giving a half to each person.

To carve loin of mutton, a portion is cut through, beginning at the best end. If kidney be in it, a slice should be served as far as it will go to each portion. Care must be taken that the bone is well jointed. The butcher chops the loin between each vertebra. When big mutton is carved it gives a large chop, oftentimes more than the amount desired, but a chop cannot be divided without waste, or one portion being all the inferior end. It is therefore a good plan to joint a loin of mutton with a small meat saw, cutting any thickness desired. In this case the actual bone will often have to be sawn through. The result will be more economical, and the servings more agreeable. The loin also can be boned entirely, stuffed or not, as preferred, the flap end folded and fastened over the fillet portion. Then the meat can be carved across any thickness.

To carve leg of mutton, stand joint the inner part of the leg uppermost and cut across center to bone, towards carver, then cut rather thick slices on either side. To serve the meat equally, unless any special part is desired, a portion of the knuckle is served with a slice of the thick end. The prime fat is the kernel of fat at the thick end.

To carve forequarter of mutton or lamb. The forequarter of mutton usually is not served whole unless the mutton be very small. The forequarter of lamb frequently is served whole. Before cooking it must be jointed through the chine of bone at the back, to enable this portion being served in chops, twice across the breastbones the entire length, and at short intervals at the edge of the breast. Before serving it is usual to separate the shoulder by pressing the fork in by the knuckle, then passing knife round shoulder, crossing about center of joint, raising shoulder without cutting too much meat off breast. Leave shoulder in position on joint; a second dish is sent to table on which to lay it while the other part is being carved.

To carve rabbit or hare. In either case first separate legs and shoulders; then cut the back part across, into two parts. This is accomplished best by inserting the knife into joint, and raising up the back by means of the fork. The back or fillet part is considered the best portion of a hare or rabbit.

To carve sirloin of beef, a sirloin should be cut into thin slices with a sharp, firm cut from end to end of the joint. At the upper portion the cut should be clean and even; then use point of knife to loosen slices from bones. In carving undercut, remove superfluous fat, and cut slices from end to end in same manner as upper portion. Be careful always to cut down straight to the bone of a sirloin or rib of beef; by so doing you will not spoil appearance of joint, and what remains will look tidy.

To carve ham. Ham should be cut through to the bone first from center or near thin end. Slices must be cut thin. Always commence cutting from upper side. The fairest way by far, so as to serve fat and lean evenly, is to begin cutting from center of thickest part, and to cut thin circular slices; by this means the flavor of the ham is far better, and it will prove to be the more economical way of serving.

To carve ox-tongue. Commence cutting from middle of tongue; cut slices not too thin and take them from each side being careful not to cut slices through to bottom part of tongue. Extreme end of the tip and the lower part of tongue generally are used up for chopping in salpicons, etc. A little of the fat should be put on each plate. When rolled tongue is served it must be cut horizontally into rather thin slices.

To carve fish. A silver sheer or trowel should be used for this purpose; a steel knife applied to fish often spoils the delicacy of its flavor. Great care must be taken to prevent breaking the flakes, which ought to be kept as entire as possible. Short-grained fish, such as salmon, etc., should be cut lengthwise, not crosswise.

Six Hundred and Fifteen Tested Recipes

"Calendar of Dinners"

by Marion Harris Neil

SOUPS

An economical housewife may supply good gravy and thick soups at very little, if any, addition to the weekly expenses, as soups are an excellent method of using up scraps and bones from joints and vegetables that otherwise are wasted. Soup, if taken as the primary course of a substantial dinner, if well flavored and warm, acts as a stimulant in the stomach, exciting the gastric glands, and generally enabling that organ to perform its functions more easily. For this object the soup should be thin and not too much of it partaken, otherwise it dilutes the digestive juices too much. If it is to form the chief part of the meal, the soup will be more nutritious if thickened, especially so, if pulse—i.e. peas, beans, and lentils—is used as the thickening medium.

Stock is the liquid in which meat, bones, or vegetables have been cooked, and which contains an extract from these substances. It is used for soups, sauces, and gravies. Fresh or cooked bones or meat may be used. A stock pot may be kept on the stove, into which are put any scraps of meat, bones, gristle, or vegetable; at the end of the day it is strained, and all fat taken off. Bones and meat for stock must be broken into small pieces. Cold water should be used, and a little salt to extract the nutriment. The whole must be brought slowly to the boiling point; then, the temperature lowered, the fat and scum taken off. When wanted for clear soups the vegetables should be cleaned, but not cut up, or with the long cooking they may mash and thicken the soup. In hot weather it is better to leave out the vegetables, as the stock turns sour more quickly if vegetables have been used in its preparation. They can be cooked separately and added when using the stock.

The soup should simmer for five or six hours to extract the gelatinous matters. If the stock is skimmed occasionally it will be much clearer. Keep the lid on the stock pot to prevent loss by evaporation. The bones can be cooked again next day for a second stock, but the vegetables must be taken out. Care must be taken that nothing doubtful in freshness be put into the stock pot. Meat and bones should be well wiped with a damp cloth before using them. If onions be put in the soup unpeeled, simply washed and the root end cut off, they will help to color the soup. When using eggs for other dishes, if the shells be washed before breaking them and added to the stock pot they will help to clear the soup. For clear soups care must be taken that nothing of a floury nature be added to the stock pot. Stock always should be strained before cooling. Never allow it to stand in stock pot all night. Clear gravy soup consists of the extractives, flavoring matters, and gelatine of meat and bones.

Consomme is a good stock made from beef, veal, and often fowl, and flavored with vegetables, cooled, freed from fat. It is clarified with whites and shells of eggs, and chopped raw lean beef, and strained through a cloth. It should be brilliantly clear and of a pale brown color. Any fat floating on the stock may be removed by passing a piece of kitchen or blotting paper over the surface. Soup left from a meal will keep better if strained from the vegetables that have been served in it. In hot weather, stock left over must be boiled each day, and poured into a clean basin to prevent its turning sour. In warm weather, soups with milk in their composition should have a pinch of baking soda added.

Thickenings for soup consist usually of yolks of eggs and cream beaten together in a basin, the boiling soup poured on slowly, stirring well at the same time. Soups thus thickened should not be allowed to boil again, otherwise they will curdle. Instead of eggs and cream, cornstarch and milk may be used to thicken the soup.

Take heads off asparagus, and put aside. Cut up stalks in slices, also onion, put these into saucepan with Crisco, herbs, parsley, bay leaf, and mace, and fry gently for fifteen minutes, add flour, then stock, and simmer slowly for 1-1/2 hours. Rub through sieve, add cream, yolks of eggs, and seasonings, reheat, but take care not to boil soup. Just before serving throw in asparagus tops, which should be first cooked in a little boiling stock.

Put flour into double boiler, add gradually cream, Crisco, 4 tablespoonfuls of grated cheese and paprika to taste, stir over fire till a smooth paste. Break in eggs, mix well, cook two minutes longer and allow to cool. Roll into balls, when they are all formed, drop into boiling water and cook gently five minutes. Drain and put into soup tureen. Pour over boiling stock and serve with dish of finely grated cheese.

Blend Crisco and flour together in saucepan over fire, add milk and bring to boiling point. Heat tomato juice, tomato catsup and add soda and seasonings. Just before serving add Crisco mixture to tomato juice and stir till boiling. Serve hot. Another method, is to cook 1 quart can of tomatoes with 1 quart of water twenty minutes, then rub through sieve. Blend 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco with 2 tablespoonfuls flour, add 1 tablespoonful sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste, and 1 tablespoonful tomato catsup. Add pinch of baking soda to tomatoes, then add gradually to Crisco mixture. Just bring to boiling point and serve with tablespoonful whipped cream on top of each plate.

Wash and dry fish and cut into small pieces. Put into saucepan with stock, vegetables cut in small pieces, parsley and mace. Let these simmer for half hour, then strain off liquid. Melt Crisco in pan, stir in flour, then add fish liquor and stir till it boils. Draw it to the side of fire and let cool slightly. Beat yolks of eggs with cream, and, when soup has cooled, strain them in. Reheat soup without boiling it, to cook eggs. Season, and add few drops lemon juice and chopped parsley. Serve with small pieces of dry toast.

Wash lentils; soak twenty-four hours; drain well. Cut onion, carrot and celery into small pieces, then put them into a saucepan with Crisco, cover, and cook gently for fifteen minutes. Add stock and simmer 2 hours, then rub through sieve. Return to pan, add milk, seasonings, and bring to boil. Moisten flour with 1/2 cupful milk or stock, add it to soup and simmer five minutes. Season to taste and add cream. Serve with croutons of fried or toasted bread.

Lentils are a small leguminous seed, not so generally known as beans, but an excellent nitrogenous food, containing about 25 per cent. protein, more than 50 per cent. starch, with over 2 per cent. fat. They are not used as much as they ought to be.

Croutons are made by cutting bread into tiny cubes and browning through and through in hot oven or putting into a frying pan with 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco and browning well. If latter is used great care must be used as the croutons will brown easily.

Open a can of lobster of good quality, take out best pieces and cut into small squares without tearing; put them aside. Place remains of lobster in mortar or basin, and pound quite smooth with Crisco. Soak bread in water, adding flour, and seasonings, and put all on fire in soup pot with pounded lobster and Crisco; stir till it boils, and boil for fifteen minutes; then pass it through sieve, add milk and pieces of lobster, and return to the pot till it boils up. Serve with small squares of fried bread, and send thin slices of lemon to table with it. This is an excellent soup, and can of course be made with fresh lobster.